Accidents cause outages in Medway, Passadumkeag

MEDWAY, Maine — A utility pole that fell on a Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. repair truck in Medway was part of the reason about 400 utility customers went without power for several hours Wednesday, a utility company spokeswoman said.

The accident occurred at about 11 a.m. and was caused by a wire that held the pole upright coming loose. The crew was among several in the area doing routine maintenance at the time, said Susan Faloon, the company’s spokeswoman.

No one was injured, but 402 customers in Medway and Woodville lost electricity when the accident caused the electrical system in the area to trip, Faloon said.

Power was expected to be restored by late Wednesday, if not sooner, she said.

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East Millinocket police, who patrol Medway, did not return a telephone message seeking details of the accident.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, another 500 customers lost electricity for several hours in Passadumkeag, Faloon said.

“A log truck with a high log snagged the wires” and ripped down a pole on Caribou Road, Fire Chief Brent Faloon said Wednesday. “We had wires in the road and it blocked the roadway.”

The wires came down at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and fire crews did not leave the scene until 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, he said.

When Bangor Hydro crews arrived, “they realized they needed poles” and had to leave, but after returning with the poles had to leave again to get wire, the fire chief said.

Two poles on Caribou Road were replaced along with another at the intersection of the Caribou Road and Union Street, which broke under the strain of the wires, he said.